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BANCROFT 
LIBRARY 

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THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 


SCHOOL 

ARCHITECTVRE 
IN  CALIFORNIA: 


School  Architecture 
in  California 


Issued  by 

The  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction 
Sacramento,  Cal. 


CALIFORNIA 

STATE  FEINTING  OFFICE 
1914 


Santa  Paula  Grammar  School.     A  practical  adaptation  of  the  old  Spanish  colonial  architecture. 


Santa  Paula  Grammar  School.     Eight  rooms  about  a  simple  court. 


INTRODUCTORY. 

To  £/££  School  People  of  California: 

Five  years  ago  we  sent  you  the  first  handbook  on  school  architecture 
ever  issued  by  the  State.  It  was  introduced  by  this  sentiment: 

"It  is  almost  as  cheap  to  build  a  beautiful  schoolhouse  as  an  ugly  one,  when 
we  know  how.  California,  like  old  Greece,  is  a  land  of  beautiful  things.  Sun 
and  sea  and  mountains,  streams  and  trees  and  flowers  conspire  to  make  it  a 
place  inspiring  to  the  painter,  the  poet,  the  musician,  and  delightful  as  a 
dwelling  place  for  man.  This  attractiveness  and  beauty  are  practical  assets  of 
priceless  value  to  the  State.  We  who  live  here  now  should  give  to  our  land 
scapes  tasteful  and  harmonious  schoolhouses,  not  dreary  shanties  surrounded 
by  slovenly  barnyards.  Our  schools,  reflecting  the  public  spirit,  should  be 
handsome  and  prosperous,  and  must  not  teach  slatternly  lessons  of  unthrift 
to  the  little  boys  and  girls  who  are  coming  on.  Here  is  our  Opportunity  to 
touch  and  to  improve  the  long  procession  of  the  future." 

This  handbook  made  its  mark  upon  the  State.  Schoolhouses  arc 
better  lighted  because  of  it  and  school  grounds  are  of  larger  size.  It 
created  public  interest  in  the  school  plant.  There  are  constant  calls 
made  for  it  long  after  the  supply  is  exhausted,  and  it  seems  desirable  to 
have  something  of  the  kind  on  hand  constantly  for  sending  out  to  inquir 
ing  school  officers. 

It  is  not  possible  to  prepare  and  publish  exact  plans  and  specifications 
ready  to  use  in  every  particular  place.  Only  broad  types  and  general 
ideas  of  buildings  can  be  treated  in  this  way.  The  specific  structure  for 
the  particular  district  must  be  worked  out  by  the  local  people  on  the 
ground,  suited  to  local  conditions. 

The  plan  of  this  second  booklet  is  to  show  in  a  graphic  way  some 
excellent  examples  of  the  different  types  of  school  buildings  that  are 
being  constructed  to-day  in  California,  so  as  to  build  up  in  the  minds  of 
the  people  a  distinct  ideal  of  what  modern  schoolhouses  ought  to  be. 
The  pictures  and  plans  have  been  chosen  from  the  whole  State  by  a  jury 
of  competent  and  well-known  school  architects,  who  have  given  their 
work  for  the  good  of  the  cause.  I  hope  the  volume  will  be  studied  by 
those  who  are  concerned  in  building  our  schools,  and  that  its  tendency 
may  be  toward  better  conditions  for  the  boys  and  girls  and  finer  land 
scapes  for  the  Golden  State. 

EDWARD  HYATT, 
Superintendent  Public  Instruction. 


Old  school  in   Mendocino   County  before  remodeling. 


I  till! 


Remodeled    Mill    Creek    School    in    Mendocino    County,    showing    what    can    be    done    in    many 

country  districts. 


FOREWORD. 

On  the  evening  of  June  17,  1913.  the  Jury  of  Architects  appointed  by 
the   Superintendent  of   Public   Instruction,   met   at  the   San  Francisco 
Architectural  Club  where  the  photographs  and  drawings  of  California 
schools  submitted  for  publication  had  been  displayed. 
The  following  architects  were  present : 
Lewis  P.  Hobart  of  San  Francisco. 
Chas.  S.  Kaiser  of  Sacramento. 
John  W.  Woollett,  State  Architect. 
J.  J.  Donovan  of  Oakland. 
C.  H.  Cheney  of  San  Francisco. 

Some  four  hundred  photographs,  drawings  and  blue  prints  were 
received,  and  of  this  number  the  Jury  selected  about  thirty-five  as 
advantageous  for  publication. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


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A  simple  one-room  country  school. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


REPORT  OF  THE  JURY  OF  ARCHITECTS. 

By  CHARLES  HENRY  CHENEY,  Secretary. 

When  in  1909  the  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  sent  out  a 
request  to  the  city  and  county  superintendents  throughout  California  for 
examples  of  the  best  school  architecture  in  their  districts,  there  was  a 
prompt  and  hearty  response,  productive  of  a  very  large  number  of  school 
drawings  and  schemes.  These  were  later  published  under  the  title  of 
"School  Architecture  in  California." 

However,  while  there  was  a  great  demand  for  this  pamphlet  and  the 
buildings  embodied  therein  certainly  did  much  to  stimulate  a  further 
interest  in  school  building,  it  was  obvious  that  by  getting  out  a  new 
volume  there  might  be  a  great  opportunity  to  improve  the  standards  and 
character  of  school  architecture,  if  the  architects  of  the  State  would 
co-operate  in  advising  the  best  schools  to  be  published  and  thus  draw 
them  to  the  attention  of  boards  of  trustees  and  school  people  generally. 

An  advisory  committee  of  architects  was  therefore  appointed  from 
different  parts  of  the  State  to  act  as  a  Jury  to  pass  on  all  designs  and 
plans  submitted.  It  was  understood  at  the  outset  that  only  such  designs 
as  this  Jury  professionally  advised  would  be  printed  in  the  report. 

The  Basis  of  the  Judgment. 

As  the  object  of  this  publication  was  to  draw  attention  only  to  the 
better  school  architecture,  it  was  decided  that  of  the  plans  submitted 
only  those  which  were  sure  to  set  a  standard  for  the  school  boards  of 
the  State  should  be  considered.  Thus  the  question  immediately  arose  as 
to  what  is  the  chief  problem  of  school  architecture  in  California  and  how 
best  to  direct  attention  towards  its  proper  solution. 

During  the  school  year  1912—13  there  was  set  aside  and  expended  in 
this  State  for  new  buildings  the  sum  of  $7,372,215.18.  This  was  dis 
tributed  over  kindergartens,  elementary  schools,  high  schools,  and  normal 
schools.  Hence,  the  importance  to  the  State  of  obtaining  not  alone  the 
highest  practical  results,  but  also  the  best  designs  and  architecture. 

If  so  many  buildings  at  such  great  cost  are  set  up  annually  as  an 
object  lesson  to  all  the  younger  generation,  is  it  not  absolutely  essential 
that  they  should  advance  the  highest  and  noblest  ideas  possible,  that  they 
should  form  a  nucleus  for  the  patriotic  sentiments  of  their  respective 
communities  ?  Should  they  not  help  to  attract  the  incoming  population 
which  most  of  this  State  is  so  anxious  to  have? 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


Open-air  classroom  at  Pasadena.     Note  simplicity  and  freedom. 


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Another  view  of  open-air  classroom  at  Pasadena. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


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Open-air   classroom  unit  from   Pasadena,   valuable  for  simplicity  and  economy. 


8 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


Place  Good  Buildings  Where  They  Can  Be  Seen. 

The  placing  of  fine  schools  or  other  public  buildings  to  block  the  end 
of  a  street  receives  much  attention  in  other  countries.  America  is  just 
beginning  to  take  cognizance  of  this  idea,  owing  to  the  checkerboard 
plan  with  which  our  cities  are  generally  afflicted. 

Good  architecture  is  one  of  the  strongest  of  favorable  impressions  that 
any  municipality  can  make  on  its  visitors,  and  if  buildings  can  be  so 
placed  as  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  taxpayers'  money  is  well 
spent,  the  prestige  and  civic  pride  of  the  city  can  be  greatly  enhanced. 


Two-room  country  school. 

The  featuring  of  fine  schools  or  other  public  buildings  stopping  the  vistas 
of  long  streets  forms  a  distinct  relief  to  the  monotony  of  the  checker 
board  plan. 

This  is  a  matter  to  be  kept  in  mind  by  school  boards  in  selecting  future 
sites.  It  is  in  no  way  necessary,  however,  that  school  buildings  be  made 
monuments  of  architecture.  Most  attempts  in  this  direction  have 
impaired  the  value  of  the  buildings  as  schools,  as  well  as  giving  a  false 
face  to  their  function.  In  fact,  it  is  unfortunately. true  that  the  lighting 
and  efficiency  of  many  buildings  in  this  State  are  completely  spoiled  by 
attempts  of  this  kind  to  make  a  big  show. 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


The  Plan  and  the  Exterior  Design. 

School  architecture  is  a  special  problem.  The  practical  requirements 
are  many  and  diverse  and  the  solution  of  the  planning  problem  alone 
requires  an  experienced  and  well  trained  architect.  While  California  in 
most  parts  of  the  State  does  not  present  the  rigorous  climatic  conditions 
of  the  Eastern  States,  the  problems  of  school  design  are  nevertheless 
very  much  the  same  throughout  the  country. 

There  are  two  distinct  sides  to  the  architect's  problem :  planning,  and 
the  design  of  the  exterior  and  interior.  While  from  the  practical  stand- 


Front  and  rear  views  Grant  and  Jefferson  four-room  Grammar  School  at  San  Diego. 

point  the  plan  has  the  preponderance  of  importance,  the  problem  of 
obtaining  an  attractive  and  dignified  building  is  also  of  final  consequence 
to  every  school  board. 

It  requires  more  than  a  good  carpenter  or  contractor  to  obtain  either 
of  these  results,  yet  it  is  unfortunately  true  that  in  the  interior  and  coun 
try  communities  it  is  very  difficult  to  obtain  a  well  trained  architect  to 


10 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


Floor  plan  of  Grant  and  Jefferson  School  at  San  Diego. 


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Grammar  School  at  Santa  Paula.     See  frontispiece  for  elevation. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE.  11 

undertake  the  work.  While  it  may  also  be  true  that  local  pride  might 
favor  a  local  design,  such  preference  is  very  liable  to  be  the  undoing  of 
school  boards. 

Good  Architecture  a  Matter  of  Evolution. 

Is  it  right  for  local  boards  to  work  for  anything  but  the  highest  results 
in  buildings  which  are  to  determine  the  future  efficiency  and  health  of 
the  generation  ?  Should  they  not  have  at  their  command  the  best  sources 
of  information  possible  and  be  cognizant  of  the  latest  development  in 
school  ajchitecture  ?  Should  public  money  be  spent  for  anything  but 
the  finest  buildings  possible?  Good  results  in  architecture  are  largely  a 
matter  of  evolution,  of  study,  with  a  knowledge  of  the  previous  forward 
steps  in  design. 

It  is  evident  that  if  the  foremost  examples  of  each  type  of  school 
building  in  these  United  States  could  be  distributed  to  each  member  of 
every  board  of  trustees  in  California,  they  could  then  go  on  improving 
and  making  over  until  we  had  built  up  a  school  architecture  founded 
upon  the  best  that  is  in  existence. 

The   School   Site. 

With  this  in  mind,  it  is  easier  to  undertake  the  school  problem.  First 
to  be  considered  are  the  requirements  for  the  study  of  a  school  plan. 
What  is  the  orientation,  the  approach,  the  size  and  drainage  of  the  site? 
The  number  of  classrooms,  special  rooms  and  their  relation  one  to 
another?  How  much  playground  space  is  necessary?  The  amount  of 
preliminary  study  put  on  these  points  largely  determines  the  value  of 
the  solution. 

The  first  problem,  the  size  of  the  site,  is  a  matter  which  is  undergoing 
a  tremendous  change  for  the  better  in  this  State  at  the  present  time. 
The  great  value  of  organized  play  and  the  increasing  interest  in  the 
opening  of  school  buildings  to  the  larger  community  for  use  after  school 
hours,  has  led  to  the  now  generally  adopted  idea  that  every  school  should 
have  ten  or  twelve  acres  of  ground  if  possible.  While  the  congested 
conditions  in  some  cities  make  this  impracticable  in  many  cases,  it  is  still 
significant  to  see  municipalities  as  large  as  Los  Angeles  and  Oakland 
purchasing  such  sites. 

The  orientation  or  placing  of  school  buildings  with  relation  to  the 
points  of  the  compass  is  an  exceedingly  important  matter.  A  site  where 
the  general  directions  of  enclosing  streets  are  at  an  angle  with  the  north 
and  south  is  greatly  preferable  in  that  it  admits  the  sunlight  at  some  time 
of  the  day  to  the  most  of  the  rooms  of  the  building.  The  beneficent 
effect  of  sunshine  as  a  germ  destroyer  can  not  be  denied  and  must  be 
sought  wherever  possible.  High  ground,  that  is  ground  sloping  off  from 
the  building  site,  is  equally  important  from  the  sanitation  standpoint. 


12 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


A   one-story   example   in   brick.      Artesia    Grammar    School. 


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Detail   of   Artesia   Grammar   School. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE.  13 

The  New  One-Story  Multiple  Unit  School  Building. 

As  the  sites  grow  more  ample  there  is  no  question  but  that  school 
buildings  all  on  one  floor  are  greatly  to  be  desired.  For  hygienic  reasons 
the  girl  students  at  least  should  not  be  subjected  to  too  frequent  climbing 
of  stairs.  The  added  danger  of  panic  in  the  case  of  fire  or  earthquake 
has  made  the  tendency  all  in  the  direction  of  one-story  buildings. 

The  satisfactory  new  multiple  unit  building  has  also  the  advantage 
that  if  only  part  of  the  classrooms  are  built  at  first  additional  rooms  can 
be  added  comfortably  and  conveniently  as  they  are  required,  without 
ruining  the  appearance  of  the  building  until  the  maximum  advisable 
under  one  principal  (generally  twenty- four  classrooms)  has  been 
reached.  The  present  movement  for  open  air  classrooms  can  also  be 
easily  handled  by  having  the  window  side  of  the  room  entirely  re 
movable.  Some  very  good  examples  of  the  one-story  type  were  sub 
mitted  and  are  published  herein. 

The  Typical  Classroom. 

In  studying  out  a  plan,  the  chief  problem  is  to  so  simplify  the  require 
ments  as  to  get  their  proper  relation  one  to  another.  For  instance,  the 
size  and  arrangement  of  a  typical  schoolroom  has  been  studied  upon  for 
years  and  in  the  Oakland  investigation  of  1912  the  amount  of  data 
collected  on  this  subject  led  the  authorities  there  to  as  final  a  conclusion 
as  has  been  made  on  this  subject  anywhere  in  the  United  States.  Yet 
it  was  evident  at  the  present  exhibition  at  the  first  glance  that  nine  out 
of  ten  of  the  school  designers  represented  seemed  absolutely  unfamiliar 
with  the  findings  so  close  at  hand. 

Briefly,  the  best  typical  schoolroom  would  have  all  the  light  on  one 
side  of  the  room,  the  window  area  of  glass  being  approximately  twenty- 
five  per  cent  of  the  floor  area,  with  the  one  entrance  door  near  the 
teacher's  desk.  The  wardrobe  should  have  two  doors  opening  out  of 
the  classroom,  one  on  each  side  of  the  teacher,  but  with  no  doors  enter 
ing  into  the  hallway.  It  should  make  room  for  a  maximum  of  forty 
pupils'  desks. 

Having  settled  upon  a  classroom  unit  the  grouping  of  these  units 
about  the  central  vestibule  and  assembly  hall,  together  with  the  arrange 
ment  of  other  special  rooms,  the  principal's  office,  teacher's  room  and 
music,  manual  training,  domestic  science  rooms,  etc.  (if  they  are  to  be 
included),  is  the  next  problem. 

Special  Rooms  Other  Than  Classrooms. 

The  determination  of  the  special  rooms  required,  other  than  class 
rooms,  is  a  matter  now  provoking  much  important  discussion.  The 
assembly  room  with  its  moving  picture  apparatus  and  other  fittings  is 
being  included  in  most  of  the  new  buildings  in  Oakland  and  Los  Angeles, 


14 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


Rear  view  of  eight-room  Grammar  School  at  Artesia. 


Main  floor  plan  of  Grammar   School  at  Artesia. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE.  15 

and  it  is  generally  considered  by  educators  a  necessary  and  very  useful 
adjunct  to  every  school  building.  Placed  where  it  can  be  cut  off  from 
the  rest  of  the  building  for  use  in  the  evening,  it  can  be  of  great  service 
to  the  community  both  for  educational  and  entertainment  purposes. 

A  community  club  room  to  be  used  also  as  a  branch  public  library  or 
a  possible  voting  booth,  is  another  recent  improvement  widely  accepted. 
Principal's  and  teachers'  rooms  and  the  arrangement  for  gymnasia  for 
boys  and  girls,  preferably  in  adjoining  wings,  form  the  basis  for  many 
neat  adjustments  in  making  a  good  plan.  Toilets  must  be  conveniently 
placed  with  respect  to  each  group  of  classrooms  and  the  classrooms 
arranged  with  corridors  on  the  side  opposite  the  lighting  and  in  such 
a  way  as  to  make  a  short  and  convenient  communication  between  the 
different  parts. 

The  discussions  of  the  Jury  finally  led  to  the  other  members  unani 
mously  requesting  Mr.  J.  J.  Donovan  of  Oakland  to  submit  a  brief 
outline  of  the  work  being  done  there  for  publication  with  this  report. 

With  these  points  adjusted  the  question  of  design  of  the  exterior 
should  become  a  simple  expression  of  the  arrangements  within. 

The  Buildings  Selected  for  Publication. 

The  above  outline  of  building  requirements  was  briefly  the  basis  upon 
which  the  architects  of  the  Jury  acted  in  considering  the  buildings  to  be 
offered  as  examples  of  the  best  school  architecture  in  the  State.  While 
there  is  no  question  that  a  splendid  lot  of  buildings  were  selected,  many 
of  them  fell  short  in  one  particular  or  other.  However,  the  Jury  was 
much  delighted  at  the  sum  total  of  really  good  buildings  that  have 
already  been  constructed  in  California  and  unanimously  expressed  the 
opinion  that  this  State  has  a  decidedly  beautiful  and  advanced  trend  to 
its  school  architecture. 

In  considering  the  different  classes  of  buildings  the  Jury  was  imme 
diately  impressed  by  the  very  small  number  of  country  schools  of  any 
kind  submitted,  although  by  actual  count  the  district  schools  of  the  State 
greatly  exceed  all  others  in  number. 

The  Jury  was  asked  by  Mr.  Hyatt  to  freely  criticize  the  drawings  to 
be  published,  with  the  understanding  that  whatever  was  said  would  be 
accepted  for  the  good  of  the  cause.  The  points  where  the  designs 
selected  could  be  improved  upon  are  therefore  frankly  gone  into  in  this 
report  with  the  hope  that  the  architects  concerned  will  accept  the  criti 
cism  in  good  faith  and  understand  that  the  Jury  were  unanimous  in  the 
selection  of  each  drawing  as  representative  of  the  best  type  of  school 
building  in  California. 

In  hanging  the  drawings  the  buildings  were  grouped  into  seven  types, 
according  to  the  announcement  sent  out,  and  the  Jury  appointed  was 
careful  to  select  the  best  examples  presented  in  each  class.  However, 


16 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 


Beautiful  rambling   wooden   High    School   building   at    Nordhoff. 


Wild  Rose   Grammar  School  at  Monrovia.     Good  handling  of  a  two-story  building. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE.  17 

there  was  sometimes  more  than  one  building  in  each  group  that  seemed 
worthy  of  having  attention  directed  to  it,  and  in  some  cases  several 
examples  have  been  published. 

One-Room  Buildings. 

The  problem  of  the  one-room  school  is  a  good  deal  more  difficult  to 
handle  than  may  be  supposed.  If  reduced  to  its  first  elements,  it  is 
almost  an  axiom  of  school  building  that  the  best  light  is  obtained  from 
one  side  of  the  room.  Most  of  the  mistakes  seen  in  our  rural  school- 
houses  would  immediately  be  eliminated  if  this  were  adhered  to,  but 
unfortunately  the  fact  that  the  one-room  school  usually  has  three 
exposed  sides  seems  to  offer  great  temptations  to  architects  to  use  them 
all  for  lighting,  causing  bad  cross  lights  and  generally  bad  cross 
draughts.  The  problem  of  the  entrances  is  really  small  in  comparison. 

A  one-room  school  from  Visalia  showed  an  interesting  plan,  with 
many  admirable  features.  The  opening  of  the  cloakrooms  into  the 
vestibule  was  criticized  as  not  being  controllable  from  the  teacher's  desk 
and  the  monumental  entrance  porches  deprecated. 

The  remodeled  district  school  of  Mill  Creek,  Mendocino  County,  pro 
voked  much  comment  upon  its  neat  character,  considering  what  had  been 
done  with  the  old  building. 

The  simple  open  air  classroom  unit  from  Pasadena  is  valuable  both 
for  its  simplicity  and  dignity,  also  for  its  clear-cut  and  economical 
arrangement.  Here,  again,  the  Jury  preferred  the  opening  of  the  cloak 
room  into  the  classroom  only.  The  question  of  cross  light  was  brought 
up,  but  was  thought  to  be  properly  handled.  On  the  whole  the  design 
is  highly  complimented  and  attention  is  directed  to  this  successful  solu 
tion  of  the  problem. 

Two-Room  Buildings. 

The  two-room  plan  published  was  found  by  the  Jury  to  have  the  same 
suggestion  as  to  cloakrooms  and  generally  as  to  the  number  of  outside 
doors  to  the  classrooms.  The  Jury  was  practically  unanimous  in  agree 
ing  with  the  recent  findings  of  the  Oakland  School  Building  Commission 
that  it  is  best  to  have  one  outside  door  only  to  each  classroom,  and  that 
as  near  to  the  teacher's  desk  as  possible  in  order  that  she  may  have 
absolute  control  of  the  children. 

Four-Room  School  Buildings. 

The  Grant  and  Jefferson  School  of  San  Diego  furnished  an  admirable 
example  of  a  simple  arrangement  for  a  four-room  building.  It  has  the 
great  advantage  of  being  extensible  without  destroying  the  architecture 
of  the  building.  It  also  has  a  straightforward  plan  and  is  in  the  appro 
priate  Spanish  style,  with  provision  for  the  addition  of  another  group  of 
rooms  in  the  rear. 


18 


SCOOHL   ARCHITECTURE. 


Front  view  of  the  Lincoln  Grammar  School  at  Madera,  a  beautiful  and  commodious  building. 


Rear  view  of  the  Lincoln  Grammar  School  at  Madera.     Observe  the  fine  effect  of  design 
in  red  bricks  against  a  white  background  of  cement  bricks. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


19 


Side  view  of  the  Lincoln  Grammar  School  at  Madera. 


Floor  plan  of  Lincoln  Grammar  School  at  Madera. 


20 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


Grammar  School  Buildings. 

Another  impressive  example  of  the  Spanish  style  was  found  in  the 
Santa  Paula  Grammar  School,  which  presents  eight  classrooms  arranged 
as  simply  as  possible  about  an  admirable  cloistered  court.  The  Jury 
again  questioned  the  cloakrooms  opening  into  the  passageway,  but  on 
the  whole  found  both  plan  and  elevations  commendable. 

The  Artesia  Grammar  School  is  a  splendid  example  of  good  architec 
ture,  particularly  well  studied  and  pleasing.  There  has  been  a  good  deal 
of  discussion  about  circular  headed  windows  for  classrooms,  since  the 
arched  opening  makes  a  very  undesirable  shadow  on  the  ceiling,  and 
hence  an  uneven  reflected  light.  In  this  case  the  overhang  of  the  roof 


The  Wilmington  High  School  presents  a  refined  and  beautiful  exterior. 

casts  a  shadow  which  perhaps  relieves  this  somewhat,  but  there  is  no 
question  that  the  near  grouping  of  square-headed  windows  as  in  Santa 
Paula  is  more  desirable. 

An  interesting  example  of  a  rambling  one-story  building  at  Nordhoff 
was  also  considered  worthy  of  publication. 

The  Wild  Rose  Grammar  School  of  Monrovia  presents  a  simple 
arrangement  of  a  two-story  building  and  was  considered  a  good  handling 
of  this  problem,  where  crowded  city  conditions  make  land  too  scarce  to 
build  all  upon  one  floor. 

As  a  grammar  school  with  a  group  plan  and  assembly  hall,  the  new 
Lincoln  school  of  Madera  is  both  interesting  and  out  of  the  ordinary. 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE.  21 

The  use  of  brick  patterns  on  the  exterior  contrasts  with  the  white  sur 
faces  and  furnishes  a  very  good  example  of  possibilities  of  design  which 
have  been  scarcely  attempted  in  California  as  yet. 


Detail  of  entrance  to  the  Wilmington  High  School. 

High  School  Buildings. 

The  Wilmington  High  School,  Los  Angeles,  presents  a  refined  and 
beautiful  exterior  and  typifies  an  architecture  of  the  civilization  to  which 
California  really  belongs.  The  use  of  brick  in  school  buildings  is  here 


22 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


Monrovia    Polytechnic    High    School,    showing   remarkable    open-air   auditorium. 


Monrovia  Polytechnic  High  School,  showing  beautiful  cloister  between  the  main  building 
and  the  Manual  Arts  Building. 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


First  floor  plan  of  Monrovia  Polytechnic   High  School. 


Second   floor  plan  of  Monrovia  Polytechnic   High   School 


24 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


carried  to  an  extremely  high  order  of  art  and  inspired  the  Jury  with 
much  hope  for  the  future. 

The  Princeton  Union  High  School  shows  the  simple  handling  of  the 
requirements  of  a  small  union  district. 


Santa   Monica  Polytechnic  High  School  on  top  of  a  hill  overlooking  the  sea.     Easily  foremost 

in  recent  development. 


Polytechnic  High  Schools. 

The  Santa  Monica  group  was  easily  foremost  in  recent  developments 
of  this  character  shown.  The  building  is  particularly  well  adapted  to  its 
site  on  the  top  of  a  hill.  The  group  plan  has  been  well  arranged  upon 
the  site  and  with  reference  to  the  central  building,  and  the  grouping  of 


Princeton   Union   High   School  in   Colusa   County. 

the  rooms  is  well  studied  and  incorporates  most  of  the  latest  develop 
ments  in  modern  school  building.  The  placing  of  special  rooms  and  the 
arrangement  of  the  manual  arts  building  also  have  much  to  commend 
them. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


25 


Detail   of  main  entrance,    Santa   Monica   Polytechnic   High   School. 


26  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

The  Monrovia  High  School  also  offers  a  well  handled  idea  in  its  open 
air  auditorium,  which  is  here  reproduced.  High  school  pageants,  folk 
dancing,  dramatics,  debating  and  other  matters  which  demand  audi 
torium  space  are  being  increasingly  turned  into  the  open  air.  It  is  very 
evident  that  California  presents  unusual  possibilities  in  this  direction,  and 
every  opportunity  should  be  encouraged  to  provide  open  air  theaters. 

Normal  School  Buildings. 

The  State  Normal  School  at  San  Jose  presents  a  striking  contrast  to 
most  school  buildings  in  this  State,  and  with  its  enclosed  arcaded  court 
and  tile  roofs  presents  an  exterior  which  the  Jury  felt  was  highly  to  be 
commended.  The  simple  arrangement  of  the  plan  is  noteworthy,  with 
the  light  all  uniformly  on  the  outside  of  the  building  and  the  passageways 
open  to  a  protected  court. 

The  drawings  for  the  new  Los  Angeles  State  Normal  School  are  again 
different  in  character  and  smack  of  good  design.  The  group  plan 
around  an  irregular  court,  ties  in  very  well  the  related  buildings,  pre 
senting  a  campus  arrangement  on  a  small  scale  which  at  a  glance  shows 
the  size  and  importance  which  these,  the  real  present-day  colleges  of  the 
country,  are  fast  assuming.  The  location  of  the  manual  arts  and  kinder 
garten  rooms  and  dining  hall  to  one  side,  and  the  placing  of  the  athletic 
field  and  agricultural  gardens  all  show  a  very  happy  solution  of  a  difficult 
problem. 

The  Santa  Barbara  School  of  Manual  Arts  is  a  different  type  which 
has  many  requirements  common  to  other  schools  and  the  way  they  have 
been  developed  may  well  be  studied. 

Recommendations  of  the  Jury. 

The  above  selections  on  the  whole  present  surprisingly  good  examples 
of  school  architecture  and  there  is  no  question  that  if  the  types  pointed 
out  be  followed  as  a  basis  for  future  building,  the  school  system  of  this 
State  and  the  cities  in  which  the  structures  are  located  will  be  a  great 
deal  better  off. 

This  is,  indeed,  the  earnest  hope  of  every  member  of  the  Jury.  Every 
effort  was  certainly  made  to  give  an  impartial  judgment,  the  chief  regret 
being  that  an  even  larger  number  of  typical  buildings  were  not  sub 
mitted,  particularly  from  San  Francisco  and  the  northern  part  of  the 
State. 

There  is  no  use  overlooking  the  fact  that  there  is  little  effective  guid 
ance  of  school  trustees  and  school  people  generally  to  secure  the 
acceptance  of  good  designs  only.  With  this  idea  there  was  passed  at 
the  last  session  of  the  legislature  a  concurrent  resolution  appointing  a 
committee  of  architects  and  hold-over  senators  and  assemblymen  to  draft 
an  effective  and  comprehensive  law,  providing  for  the  establishment  of  a 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


27 


Grand  tower  of  San  Jose  State  Normal  School.     Cost  of  building  $250,000. 


Entrance  to  the  great  court  of  the   San  Jose   State   Normal   School. 


28 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


First  floor  of  San  Jose  State  Normal  School. 


Second  floor  of  San  Jose  State  Normal  School. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE.  29 

state  art  commission,  to  be  reported  to  the  next  legislature  in  1915  for 
action.  Such  a  commission  now  exists  in  several  Eastern  States  and  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  where  it  has  been  a  great  success  in  raising  the 
standard  of  public  buildings  generally. 

It  is  proposed  that  a  commission  of  architects  and  others  versed  in 
matters  of  art  be  established  to  act  without  pay,  to  pass  upon  all  school 
buildings  and  upon  state,  county  and  municipal  buildings,  with  the  sole 
purpose  of  preventing  by  veto  power  the  erection  of  unsightly  and  poorly 
designed  structures. 

While  this  is  somewhat  of  a  new  idea  in  California  it  certainly  is  the 
most  effective  method  yet  found  to  insure  expert  inspection  of  our  school 
buildings.  Undoubtedly  such  a  commission  could  do  a  great  deal  of 
good  and  would  meet  with  the  wholesome  respect  of  the  community.  If 
men  of  the  highest  type  agree  to  give  a  small  part  of  their  time  each 
month,  as  they  are  now  doing  in  New  York  and  elsewhere,  to  the  good 
of  their  state,  there  is  reason  to  believe  they  will  prove  equally  public 
spirited  in  California. 

While  some  opposition  will  undoubtedly  be  met  until  the  value  of 
such  a  commission  has  been  demonstrated,  it  must  be  remembered 
that  this  is  not  in  any  sense  a  new  idea  in  America  and  that  California 
is  no  longer  a  pioneer  state.  It  now  stands,  particularly  in  its  school 
system,  as  nearly  the  highest  exponent  of  culture  and  learning  in  the 
United  States.  Our  school  buildings  must  needs  live  up  to  our  school 
teaching  standards  and  become  typical  of  the  greatest  advance  in  school 
building  and  school  architecture  in  America,  instead  of  being  sadly 
unsuccessful  in  design,  as  in  so  many  cases. 

There  is  every  reason  why  California  with  its  unusual  climatic  con 
ditions  should  develop  an  architecture  of  as  cultivated  and  distinguished 
a  type  as  any  old  world  country.  Such  a  development  must  be  a  steady 
progress  in  design — the  sifting  and  holding  up  to  public  notice  of  the 
best  buildings,  and  the  discouragement  and  elimination  of  poor  ones. 

It  is  sincerely  to  be  hoped  that  the  next  legislature  will  provide  for 
such  a  state  art  commission  and  that  capable  men  be  appointed  to  it  with 
ample  powers  and  tact  to  make  its  judgments  secure  a  real  advance  in 
the  standards  of  school  architecture. 

In  closing  this  report  the  Jury  unanimously  expressed  the  conviction 
that  such  an  inspection  of  the  progress  in  school  building  as  has  been 
attempted  herein,  if  repeated  annually  for  the  next  decade,  might  be  pro 
ductive  of  a  concentration  of  thought  in  the  State  along  the  right  lines, 
until  California  had  indeed  developed  a  demand  for  real  architecture,  and 
would  not  permit  the  perpetration  of  anything  else. 


30 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


Main  court  of  Los  Angeles  State  Normal  School. 


HELIOTROPE  •  DR.IVE 


Buildings   and    grounds   of   the    Los    Angeles    State    Normal    School.     Twenty-two 
acres  of  land.     Cost  of  buildings  $600,000. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


31 


itjj    in     flow    icoiomcs 
First  floor  Santa   Barbara  State   Normal  School.      Cost  cf  building  $125,000. 


JlCOM     fUBt     fl» 


SUIl        lOIKU        OODL      01        IliUVtt        AUS     1«»      MOMl    ICOKOKICS 

Second  floor  of  Santa   Barbara   State   Normal   School. 


32  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

It  may  be  well  next  year,  and  in  succeeding-  years,  to  select  and  pub 
lish,  first,  plans  of  the  best  new  buildings  of  the  year,  and  secondly, 
plans  of  the  best  of  the  old  buildings  which  the  progress  of  the  year  still 
holds  worthy  to  be  taken  as  examples,  adding  thereto  such  buildings  as 
had  been  overlooked  in  previous  reports  and  eliminating  those  displaced 
in  standard  by  the  new  buildings.  There  would  then  be  a  sort  of  pro 
gressive  competition  leading  to  a  definite  indication  of  the  progress 
made. 

As  soon  as  the  community  as  a  whole  begins  to  know  and  distinguish, 
there  is  bound  to  be  a  sharp  advance  in  both  the  demands  of  school 
trustees  and  in  the  knowledge  and  the  character  of  design  offered  by 
architects  themselves. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE.  33 


NEW  SCHOOL  BUILDING  WORK  OF  OAKLAND. 

By  J.  J.  DONOVAN. 

On  January  12,  1912,  the  Board  of  Education  of  the  city  of  Oakland 
appointed  an  honorary  committee  to  study  and  consider  the  needs  for 
the  proposed  school  work  which  was  to  involve  an  expenditure  of 
$2,000,000.  This  honorary  commission  was  composed  of  the  following 
persons : 

J.  W.  McClymonds,  City  Superintendent,  Chairman ; 

A.  C.  Barker,  Assistant  Superintendent ; 

Morris  E.  Cox,  Assistant  Superintendent ; 

Dr.  Leonard  P.  Avers,  Associate  Director  Russell  Sage  Foundation ; 

Dr.  C.  G.  Hyde,  University  of  California ; 

Dr.  D.  S.  Snedden,  Massachusetts  Commissioner  of  Education; 

Mrs.  Fred.  C.  Turner,  Oakland ; 

John  Galen  Howard,  University  of  California; 

Dr.  Lewis  N.  Terman,  Stanford  University; 

Dr.  F.  B.  Dresslar,  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Education ; 

The  Supervising  Architect. 

Dr.  Dresslar,  Dr.  Snedden  and  Dr.  Ayers  were  to  aid  the  Commission 
by  correspondence.  The  principal  of  each  school  was  a  member  of  the 
commission  so  far  as  his  own  school  was  concerned. 

Some  few  years  ago  it  was  comparatively  a  simple  matter  to  plan  and 
build  a  school  building  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  times,  but  now,  with  the 
demands  made  upon  the  school,  the  task  is  more  complex  and  difficult. 

The  active  members  of  the  Commission  met  regularly,  and  at  each 
meeting  vigorous  discussions  were  entered  into.  Some  of  the  questions 
were  as  follows :  What  rooms,  other  than  regular  classrooms,  are 
needed?  This  brought  out  considerable  discussion,  which  evolved  the 
Assembly  Hall,  Neighborhood  Club  Room,  Branch  of  the  Public  Library, 
Principal's  Suite,  Teachers'  Rest  Room,  Teachers'  Lunch  Room,  and 
various  other  rooms,  as  desirable  adjuncts  to  the  modern  school. 

What  rooms  could  be  made  to  serve  more  than  one  purpose? 

Give  an  estimate  of  floor  space  needed  and  the  proper  proportions  of 
a  classroom,  in  the  three  grades,  namely,  Primary,  Grammar  and  High. 
Give  size  of  other  rooms  needed,  other  than  regular  classrooms. 

Provided  there  are  classrooms  on  either  side  of  the  corridor,  what 
should  be  the  width  of  the  corridor  ? 

If  classrooms  are  placed  on  one  side  of  the  corridor,  what  should  be 
its  width  ? 

A  question  which  brought  out  interesting  discussion  was :  Should  the 
basement  floor  level  be  below  the  outside  grade?  It  was  unanimously 
decided  that  the  basement  floor,  when  used  for  playroom  purposes,  should 


34  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

not  be  lower  than  the  outside  ground  level,  and  it  was  also  unanimously 
decided  that  in  no  case  should  classrooms  be  placed  below  grade  level. 

The  question  of  gymnasiums  indicated  fully  in  the  answers  that  the 
open  air  gymnasium  was  most  desired,  but  just  how  to  accomplish  this 
and  have  the  gymnasium  serve  its  purpose  on  rainy  days  was  only  solved 
in  the  preparation  of  the  drawings  and  careful  study  of  this  feature. 

Something  like  200  other  questions  were  asked,  all  of  which  were 
reported  on,  some  favorably,  others  unfavorably,  but  the  drawings  and 
the  buildings  themselves  are  the  best  answers  to  all  the  questions. 

The  committee  were  unanimous  on  many  points,  but  principally  upon 
these :  that  the  buildings  should  be  constructed  of  permanent  material ; 
that  the  classrooms  be  so  designed  that  they  could  be  easily  converted 
into  open  air  rooms  without  exposing  the  children  to  the  danger  of 
drafts ;  that  the  sanitary  and  plumbing  systems  should  be  most  modern ; 
and  that  the  heating  and  ventilating  apparatus  should  be  as  perfect  as 
modern  heating  engineering  could  devise. 

The  factor  of  safety  practically  determined  the  materials  which  were 
used,  and  in  all  cases  reinforced  concrete  or  steel  frames  fireproofed  with 
concrete  and  curtain  walls  of  brick  and  architectural  terra  cotta  or  con 
crete  treated  with  a  pleasing  plaster  finish  were  the  materials  which  were 
used  in  the  construction.  It  will  be  noticed  that  almost  all  of  this  work 
consists  of  one-story  school  buildings,  located  on  liberal  grounds.  This 
idea  was  earnestly  urged  by  various  civic  organizations  of  the  city. 

The  Open-air  Classroom. 

Just  how  to  obtain  the  open  air  classroom  and  building  was  a  problem 
which  gave  us  much  thought  and  it  required  the  elimination  of  many 
window  patents,  for  of  course  this  must  be  acquired  by  the  use  of  a 
window  which  would  take  the  place  of  the  old  double-hung,  which  at  its 
best  can  only  allow  one  half  of  the  frame  open.  The  sash  finally  used 
opens  out  to  a  sloping  or  horizontal  position  and  the  entire  frame  open 
ing,  which  extends  from  a  point  two  feet  above  the  floor  to  the  ceiling, 
is  divided  into  thirds,  so  that  these  three  sashes  are  easily  operated.  This 
permits  the  entire  frame  opening  to  be  utilized  for  fresh  air. 

Coupled  with  this  sash  arrangement  transoms,  five  and  six  in  number, 
were  placed  in  the  opposite  wall  of  the  classroom  above  the  blackboard 
close  to  the  ceiling  and  opening  into  the  corridors  or  cloisters. 

In  the  schools  now  finished  this  proves  to  be  a  happy  and  desirable 
arrangement,  extremely  healthful  for  the  teacher  and  children.  On  a 
warm  day  the  entire  side  of  one  of  these  classrooms  is  opened,  and  with 
the  transoms  opened  on  the  opposite  side  the  air  is  fresh  and  free  from 
odors. 

The  question  might  be  asked,  How  does  this  operate  on  the  sunny  side 
of  the  building?  As  a  matter  of  fact  the  orientation  of  the  building  was 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


35 


Inside  of  open-air  classroom,  looking  toward  the  windows.     Intended  for  anaemic  children. 


Interior  of  typical  classroom,  looking  toward  the  ventilating  transoms  that  open  into  the 

corridor. 


36  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 

planned  so  that  sunshine  might  enter  all  classrooms  at  some  time  of  the 
day.  The  order  of  desirability  in  this  section  is  east,  west  and  south, 
respectively,  so  one  can  easily  see  that  at  some  period  of  the  day  the  open 
side  of  the  classroom  will  receive  the  sun.  The  sashes,  however,  may  be 


A    modern    corridor,    showing    arrangement    of    transoms    opening    from    classrooms.      Note 
ventilation,  fire  gong  and  hose  reels. 

opened  to  any  angle  up  to  145  degrees  with  the  normal,  and  opening  the 
sashes  to  the  same  angle,  with  the  shades  on  the  under  side,  the  room 
may  be  thrown  open  almost  completely  without  sunshine  coming  into 
the  room. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE.  37 

The  Classrooms. 

To  return  to  the  building  proper  it  is  necessary  to  take  the  classroom 
as  the  first  unit,  and  in  following  the  recommendations  of  the  committee, 
a  model  room  has  been  developed.  The  size  of  the  room  is  20  feet 
6  inches  (wide)  by  31  feet  6  inches  (long)  and  13  feet  high  in  the  clear. 

Back  of  the  teacher's  desk,  about  4  feet  6  inches  in  width,  and  extend 
ing  the  width  of  the  room  is  the  wardrobe  and  teachers'  closet  divided  by 
a  low  partition.  On  the  various  plans  shown  herewith  the  classroom 
is  well  outlined,  but  it  may  be  of  service  to  the  layman  to  further  describe 
it.  The  windows  face  on  the  east,  west  and  south,  as  above  mentioned, 
as  this  orientation  is  adaptable  for  the  Oakland  climate,  but  in  the 
interior  of  the  State,  where  the  temperature  is  higher  during  the  day, 
the  east,  west  and  north  orientation  is  much  better.  Light  should  enter 
the  classroom  only  from  one  side  of  the  room,  and  that  should  be  on  the 
left  of  the  pupil,  with  the  windows  towards  the  rear  of  the  room  as  far 
back  as  possible  and  permissible  with  good  construction  and  design.  In 
no  room  should  light  enter  from  more  than  one  side,  for  if  windows  are 
placed  at  the  back  of  the  room,  not  only  is  it  disagreeable  for  the 
teacher,  but  cross  lights  will  occur  on  the  desks  of  the  pupils. 

Classrooms  have  but  one  entrance  and  in  the  work  in  Oakland  these 
doors  have  been  made  3  feet  6  inches  in  width.  The  wardrobe  is  inside 
the  classroom  and  free  from  the  corridor  in  order  to  give  the  teacher 
control  and  discipline.  This,  too,  prevents  petty  pilfering,  and  in  time 
of  danger  from  panic  the  teacher  has  many  advantages  at  hand  to  pre 
serve  order. 

As  for  the  material  of  the  rooms,  this  is  a  matter  of  choice  depending 
entirely  upon  economy,  but  in  no  case  should  anything  but  slate  black 
boards  be  used  and  substitutes  chosen  as  a  last  resort.  Chalk  writing  on 
slate  blackboard  requires  hardly  any  effort  on  the  part  of  the  student, 
and  the  slate  assists  the  child  to  acquire  a  legible  form  and  an  easy  style. 
On  the  other  hand  the  usual  substitute  tends  to  retard  the  chalk  and  the 
hand  drags.  On  various  tests  made  it  was  found  that  more  chalk  dust 
is  thrown  off  by  the  composition  than  by  the  slate.  The  height  of  the 
chalk  rails  for  the  primary  classes  has  been  established  2  feet  2  inches 
from  the  floor,  for  the  grammar  grades  2  feet  9  inches,  and  for  the 
high  school  grades  2  feet  10  inches.  The  height  of  the  blackboard  itself 
is  3  feet,  but  the  board  back  of  the  teacher's  desk  is  4  feet  6  inches  in 
height. 

Sanitary  picture  molds  and  bases  are  provided  in  all  classrooms  and 
corridors,  and  the  door  stiles  and  window  stools  have  very  little  projec 
tion,  thus  eliminating  dust-catching  surfaces. 


38 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


The  room  is  heated  both  by  air  drawn  from  above  the  roof,  passing 
over  a  steam  radiator  stack  and  forced  by  fans  into  the  rooms  through 
ducts  leading  from  the  fan  chamber,  also  by  direct  radiation ;  that  is,  by 
radiators  placed  under  the  windows.  The  indirect  system  is  to  be  used 
only  on  very  cold  or  damp  days  and  the  direct  system  when  it  is  neces 
sary  to  warm  the  room  for  a  brief  period  when  the  sunshine  is  not  on 
that  side  of  the  building.  A  complete  account  of  the  heating  system  is 
given  later  on. 

Rooms  other  than  Classrooms. 

The  honorary  commission  were  unanimous  in  the  opinion  that  all  new 
school  buildings  should  contain  an  Assembly  Hall  which  would  seat  from 
400  to  800.  Inasmuch  as  the  Assembly  Hall  was  to  be  used  for  public 


•  —  'jpr-.^*-  -   - 

£  ijfeag 

J4L.-JB* 


Floor  plan  of  the  Emerson  School,  nineteen  rooms.  The  patios  are  paved  and  have 
fountain  in  center.  Includes  rooms  for  domestic  science,  modeling,  plants,  manual  training, 
lunches,  principal,  assembly,  play,  rest  and  kindergarten. 

purposes,  such  as  lectures,  political  discussions  and  free  entertainments, 
and  as  it  was  an  adjunct  to  the  Club  Room  and  the  Branch  Library,  these 
rooms  were  in  all  cases  placed  close  to  each  other.  The  corridors  to  the 
classrooms  are  shut  off  from  trespass  by  collapsible  gates. 

Each  Assembly  Hall  contains  a  fireproof  moving  picture  room  elec 
trically  equipped  for  both  stereopticon  and  kinetoscope  pictures. 

The  Principal's  Suite  generally  consists  of  a  reception  room,  main 
office,  and  small  library  with  a  map  room  in  close  proximity. 

Teachers'  Lunch  and  Rest  Rooms,  have  been  provided,  and  in  the 
former  a  small  kitchen,  in  the  form  of  an  alcove,  is  a  part  of  the  room. 
This  kitchen  will  contain  gas  range,  sink  and  cupboards  so  that  the 
teachers  can  provide  a  warm  lunch  for  themselves.  In  nearly  all  cases 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


39 


the  Teachers'  Rest  Room  has  been  placed  in  a  pleasant  location  and 
possesses  a  pleasing  outlook.  Toilets  and  lavatories  are  provided  in 
connection  with  the  rest  room,  and  the  Board  of  Education  intends  to 
furnish  these  rest  rooms  with  comfortable  and  suitable  furniture.  The 
Medical  Room,  which  is  located  near  the  Principal's  Suite,  contains  bath, 
toilet  and  medicine  closet,  together  with  an  electric  heater  for  preparing 
water  quickly. 

Considerable  discussion  arose  at  one  of  the  meetings  as  to  the  uses  of 
the  Club  Room,  it  being  debated  whether  this  room  should  be  given  up 
entirely  to  club  freedom  and  privileges,  which  would  include  smoking 
and  possibly  billiard  playing.  The  latter  was  not  seriously  considered, 


Emerson  School,  one  story,  reinforced  concrete,  cement  finish,  trimmed  with  brick,  red 
tile  roof.  The  cloisters  serve  as  playgrounds  during  wet  weather,  and  give  openness  and 
freedom  of  circulation.  One  of  the  very  best  examples. 

but  in  regard  to  the  former  it  was  thought  that  this  club  room  should  be 
a  place  where  the  men  of  the  community  might  go  in  the  evening  and 
feel  at  home  and  enjoy  the  comforts  and  pleasures  a  man  might  expect 
in  a  well  regulated  club.  Accordingly  the  room  was  to  be  pleasingly 
designed,  and  in  many  cases  it  contains  fireplaces,  reading  tables,  and 
comfortable  chairs. 

As  the  Mothers'  Club  was  also  to  meet  here,  in  the  afternoon,  it  was 
thought  wise  to  provide  a  small  kitchen,  with  gas  range,  sink  and  cup 
board,  so  that  afternoon  teas  might  be  served  there  to  the  members. 

The  Library,  adjacent  to  the  Club  Room,  will  be  used  as  a  reference 
library  for  the  Club's  use  as  well  as  for  distribution  of  books. 


40  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 

Now  to  the  casual  reader  it  may  seem  that  the  city  of  Oakland  has 
gone  to  considerable  expense  in  providing  these  features.  The  criticism 
may  arise  from  some  quarters  that  this  is  not  a  part  of  the  school  build 
ing,  but  the  Commission  to  a  unit  were  heartily  in  favor  of  it,  believing 


. 
.r .. 


J.    B.    McChesney   School,    built   of  reinforced   concrete,   with   panels   of   cement   and   brick 

trimming. 

that  the  civic  good  warranted  the  expense,  and  that  it  would  bring  the 
people  in  closer  touch  with  their  schools  as  well  as  provide  a  meeting 
place  where  questions  relating  to  the  public  good  might  be  thoroughly 
discussed  and  understood,  and  inasmuch  as  almost  every  community  has 
its  Improvement  Club,  banded  together  for  the  general  welfare  of  its 
section,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  these  few  building  adjuncts  will  well 
serve  their  purpose. 

Fire  Precautions. 

A  word  on  the  precautions  taken.     To  prevent  fires  and  to  give  warn 
ing  should  they  occur :  All  boiler  rooms  have  been  encased  by  walls  and 


J.  B.  McChesney  School,  7  classrooms.      Note  the  open  arcade,  giving  abundant 
playroom    in    wet    weather. 

ceilings  of  fireproof  material.  The  doors  leading  to  these  rooms  are 
metal  clad,  likewise  the  frames  and  the  window  sashes.  In  some  cases 
the  outside  windows  are  constructed  of  hollow  metal  and  all  buildings  of 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


41 


the  future  will  contain  this  provision.     Hose  reels  are  placed  every  100 
feet  and  fire-alarm  gongs  are  placed  near  them. 

Another  precaution,  taken  to  prevent  danger  from  panic  is  that  of  the 
arrangement  of  the  doors  and  hardware  attached.  First  of  all  the  class 
room  doors  open  outward,  and  can  be  locked  only  from  the  outside  and 


Fifty-fourth   and   Market   Primary   School,   one  story,   six   classrooms. 

never  can  the  door  be  closed  to  one  inside  the  room.  What  is  true  of 
the  classroom  doors  is  also  true  of  all  doors  in  the  building  and  every 
entrance  door  is  equipped  with  panic  bolts,  locked  only  from  the  exterior, 
which  when  pushed  against  open  wide. 

The  electrical  work,  while  not  elaborate,  has  been  well  studied.     All 
grammar  classrooms  are  lighted  by  semi-indirect  fixtures  for  evening 


Fifty-fourth  and  Market  Primary  School,  looking  toward  playground.  Note  how  cloisters 
and  corridors  are  formed.  Fixed  sashes  shut  away  the  noise  of  railroad  trains  200  feet  away 
which  pass  every  two  minutes. 


42 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


study.     The  halls,  corridors  and  club  rooms  are  also  equipped  with  light 
ing  fixtures. 

Some  of  the  special  features  are  the  intercommunicating  telephone 
system  and  the  program  clocks  and  gongs.  The  former  system  is  such 
that  the  principal  may  talk  to  one  teacher  or  all  of  the  teachers  at  the 
same  time.  The  program  clocks  are  regulated  by  a  master  clock  and 
the  program  gongs  controlled  by  push  buttons  in  the  principal's  office. 

Manual  Training  Building. 

It  will  be  noted  that  the  building  is  composed  of  pavilions  connected  by 
corridors.  It  is  two  stories  in  height  and  the  lower  left-hand  pavilion 
is  to  be  used  for  the  Commercial  courses.  The  pavilion  next  to  it  is  the 


Fifty-fourth  and  Market  Street  Primary  School.  Six  classrooms,  kindergarten,  assembly, 
neighborhood  club  room,  principal's  suite,  teachers'  rest  room,  emergency  room,  lunch  room, 
One  story,  with  patios  inside  the  cloister. 

Academic  Department  and  the  central  building  is  the  Administration 
Department  and  Assembly  Hall,  the  latter  seating  1,700  people.  The 
pavilion  next  to  the  Assembly  Hall  is  the  Science  Department,  to  be 
used  in  the  study  of  Chemistry,  Physics,  Geology  and  Botany.  The 
pavilion  toward  the  lower  right-hand  corner  is  for  Domestic  Science 
and  Arts,  and  contains  classrooms  for  Millinery,  Dressmaking,  Cloak- 
making,  Cooking,  Laundering.  A  very  unique  feature,  on  the  second 
floor,  is  the  Apartment  Suite  which  in  itself  contains  a  Living  Room 


SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE.  43 

with  its  fireplace,  Dining  Room,  Kitchen,  Pantry,  Bedroom  and  Bath 
room.  Two  girls  will  be  assigned  each  week  for  the  care  of  the  apart 
ment  and  the  entertainment  which  will  be  connected  with  it. 

The  pavilion  just  to  the  west  of  this  is  the  Drawing  Department,  so. 
placed  as  to  receive  the  best  light,  and  this  department  will  probably  be 


¥-•; 


Elevation  of  Lockwood  School  on  a  17-acre  site.     Ten  rooms  at  present. 

one  of  the  best  equipped  of  its  kind  in  the  country.  On  the  second  floor 
are  the  free-hand,  modeling,  photography  and  architectural  drawing 
rooms,  and  on  the  lower  floor  the  mechanical  drawing  rooms  with  rooms 
for  models. 


*  -  -  « 

4  » 

*  I 
«  » 


:IIM:: i:jprj ,  .nj-f 


: : 


Lockwood    School,    reinforced    concrete    frame   with   walls    of    terra    cotta   blocks.     Note    the 
open  cloister  effect.      An  example  of  the  unit  plan. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


Floor   plan   of   Lakeview    School,    three   stories   high.     A   notable   feature    is   the   boys   and 
girls  outdoor   gymnasium   and  the   experimental  gardens. 


Photograph  of  Claremont  or  College  Avenue  School,  eleven  classrooms  and  accessory  rooms. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


45 


f  ' 


Bird's-eye  view  of  the  Claremont  or  College  Avenue  School.     Reinforced  concrete,  trimmed 
with  terra   cotta,   tile  roof. 


West  street  elevation  of  Durant  School.     Reinforced  concrete,  trimmed  in  terra  cotta,  with 
red  tile  roof.     One  of  the  best  two-story  buildings. 


w  .  ?W'"^>ML-^v^WL-J  -r-  ''    •     "  .    !..**'« 


(\ 


Bird's-eye  view  of  Dewey  School.  Reinforced  concrete  throughout,  made  up  of  classrooms 
and  cloisters.  Assembly  hall  in  one  of  end  pavilions,  manual  training  and  domestic  science 
in  the  other. 


46  SCHOOL  ARCHITECTURE. 

Note  on  the  cut  below  the  smaller  buildings  to  the  west  of  the  main 
building  and  just  north  of  the  campus.  These  are  the  shops.  There  are 
four  buildings  in  all,  connected  by  a  long  corridor  which  divides  each 
building  into  two  shops.  Building  No.  I  contains  the  Machine  Shop  on 
the  south  and  the  Forge  Shop  on  the  north.  Building  No.  2  the  Foundry 
on  the  south  and  the  Electrical  Shop  on  the  north.  Building  No.  3  the 
Carpentry  Shop  on  the  south  and  the  Metals  Shop  on  the  north.  Build 
ing  No.  4  the  Pattern  Shop  on  the  south  and  the  Cabinet  Shop  on  the 
north. 


,    -  -     •  4  £ 


Manual  Training  and  Commercial  High  School. 

Each  of  these  shops  is  large  and  spacious,  each  being  approximately 
177  feet  by  47  feet,  one  story  in  height.  They  are  designed  and  built  to 
look  exactly  like  shops — both  exterior  and  interior,  resembling  the 
modern  motor  shops  of  the  East. 

The  buildings  to  the  south  of  the  campus  are  the  Boys'  and  Girls' 
Gymnasiums,  with  enclosures  at  each  end. 

This  building  and  site  cost  $600,000.  Fifteen  months  were  spent  in 
study  and  preparation  of  the  drawings  and  specifications,  and  the  archi 
tectural  planning  was  done  in  conjunction  with  the  department  heads,  so 
that  the  success  of  the  school  is  due  almost  entirely  to  this  collaboration. 
The  space  required  for  each  department,  the  arrangements  of  the  desks, 
tables  and  fixtures,  was  first  laid  out  and  then,  one  might  say,  the  build 
ing  was  built  around  them.  The  length  of  the  east  fagade  is  851  feet. 
A  unique  feature  was  worked  out  at  the  main  entrance.  Here  the 
entrance  platform  is  larger  than  the  stage  platform  and  will  seat  approxi 
mately  eighty  people,  and  it  is  here  that  the  graduating  classes  may  hold 
their  commencement  exercises  facing  the  amphitheater-like  foreground, 
which  will  be  a  sloping  lawn  where  as  many  as  10,000  people  may  be 
seated. 

Plumbing. 

In  the  past  the  plumbing  of  our  schools  included  the  abominable 
latrine  water-closets  and  urinals,  which  are  nothing  less  than  open  cess 
pools.  These  latrines  were  cast  iron  troughs  which  contain  the  waste 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE.  47 

matter  until  a  bucket  filled  by  dripping  water  overbalances  and  ineffectu 
ally  flushes  the  trough.  Sometimes  this  flush  works  and  sometimes  it 
doesn't,  and  when  it  fails  to  perform  its  function  the  janitor  is  called  in 
to  use  a  hose.  This  may  be  all  right  in  some  places  where  they  have  a 
good  janitor,  but  I  can  safely  say  that  without  exception  school  build- 


Objectionable  latrine  urinals  with  cast  iron  stalls.     Out  of  date. 

ings  containing  these  latrines  are  not  fit  places  for  even  the  lowest 
animals  to  frequent,  to  say  nothing  of  the  little  children  placed  under 
the  care  of  a  fostering  and  well  meaning  community. 

The  latrines  in  school  buildings,  where  additions  were  added,  were 
torn  out,  and  in  all  the  additions,  as  well  as  all  the  new  buildings  indi 
vidual  vitreous  china  water-closets  and  urinals  of  the  very  best  make 
were  installed. 

The  water-closets  are  of  the  wash-down  or  syphon  jet  make,  weighing 
about  45  pounds  each,  and  are  provided  in  all  cases  with  a  back  vent, 
which  is  known  in  the  plumbing  trade  as  the  Boston  vent,  the  use  of 
which  will  be  described  later  on. 

The  urinals  are  the  one-piece  vitreous  china  urinal,  about  18  inches 
wide  and  4  feet  6  inches  high,  extending  down  below  the  floor  and  sepa 
rated  from  each  other  by  approximately  6  to  8  inches,  so  that  the  space 
between  each  urinal  can  be  cleaned  and  flushed.  The  roughing  of  these 
urinals  is  so  arranged  that  a  free  vent  is  obtained  from  the  room  to  the 
utility  chamber  back  of  the  wall  to  the  rear  of  the  urinals.  There  are 
about  20  of  these  urinals  and  30  water-closets  in  each  school,  and  we 


48 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


have  not  found  this  installation  much  more  expensive  than  the  old  latrine 
system,  but  we  have  found  it  to  be  sanitary,  hygienic,  and  clean. 

Having  disposed  of  what  the  fixtures  of  the  toilets  should  be,  an  all 
important  question  arose  as  to  how  the  toilet  room  itself  should  be 
vented,  for  to  force  air  in  at  the  top  of  the  room  and  draw  it  out  through 
a  register  face  at  the  base  of  one  of  the  walls  meant  that  foul  odors  must 
pass  across  the  faces  of  pupils  and  into  their  lungs.  To  avoid  this  the 


Objectionable  and   obsolete   latrine   toilet.     Should   be  discarded. 

utility  chamber  was  devised  for  both  water-closets  and  urinals  and  a  gal 
vanized  iron  duct  was  brought  into  the  utility  chamber  from  a  suction 
fan  in  the  basement,  which  also  served  to  force  the  foul  air  from  its  fan 
chamber  to  the  roof.  The  back  vent  from  the  water-closet  penetrates 
the  wall  of  the  utility  chamber  and  the  vent  from  the  roughing  to  the 
urinal  opens  into  its  chamber  and  as  these  chambers  were  made  almost 
air-tight,  all  foul  odors  and  the  air  of  the  room  are  drawn  downward 
through  the  fixtures  into  these  chambers,  thence  to  the  fan  chamber  and 
thence  to  the  roof. 

The  supply  of  fresh  air  is  taken  through  one  of  the  many  windows 
which  light  the  toilet  rooms,  each  room  lighted  directly  by  daylight. 

To  further  obtain  a  sanitary  condition  the  walls,  ceiling  and  metal  stall 
are  painted  with  several  coats  of  white  enamel  paint  on  top  of  three  good 
coats  of  lead  and  oil.  The  floors  of  the  toilet  rooms  are  laid  with  a 
mastic  cement,  likewise  the  sanitary  base,  so  that  these  rooms  are  immac 
ulately  white  with  the  exception  of  the  dark  mastic  floor. 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


49 


Sanitary  drinking  fountains  have  been  amply  provided  in  the  yards 
and  corridors.  In  the  yards  the  fountains  are  enameled  iron  to  prevent 
breakage,  and  in  the  corridors  they  are  vitreous  china  and  of  a  simple 
but  good  design.  Individual  vitreous  china  lavatories  have  also  been 
provided,  and  the  faucets  attached  to  the  lavatory  are  of  the  water  clos 
ing  pressure  type,  so  that  all  that  is  necessary  for  the  child  to  do  is  to 


Modern  up-to-date  plumbing.     Vitreous  china  urinals  and  toilets  with  utility  chamber. 

press  the  button  on  top  of  the  faucet  and  a  stream  of  water  flows  for  a 
period  of  three  to  ten  seconds  as  the  faucet  may  be  regulated.  The 
Board  of  Education  at  its  last  meeting,  October  6,  1913,  abolished 
entirely  the  roller  towel.  Therefore  with  the  conditions  as  provided 
above  good  results  should  be  obtained. 

Heating  and  Ventilating  Apparatus. 

The  problem  of  heating  and  ventilation  for  the  Oakland  schools  was 
given  considerable  study  with  the  idea  of  designing  a  plant  which  would 
give  much  better  conditions  in  the  schoolrooms  than  has  been  the  general 
practice.  It  was  determined  that  a  fresh  air  supply  of  2,250  cubic  feet 
of  air  per  minute  should  be  delivered  to  each  standard  classroom,  this 
amount  being  equivalent  to  50  cubic  feet  per  pupil  and  producing  an  air 
change  in  the  classrooms  of  approximately  twenty-one  times  per  hour  or 
a  little  better  than  a  complete  air  change  every  three  minutes. 

The  manual  training  and  domestic  science  rooms  have  been  provided 
with  about  ten  complete  changes  of  air  per  hour. 


50  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 

The  plants  have  all  been  designed  on  the  basis  of  direct  radiation  for 
heating  and  supplementary  air  supply  for  ventilation  only,  with  the  idea 
that  either  portion  of  the  system  might  be  run  singly  if  desired,  and  that 
a  better  heat  regulation  would  be  obtained  with  the  double  system. 

In  line  with  this  idea  direct  radiators  have  been  placed  under  the 
windows  in  each  of  the  classrooms,  provided  with  solid  screens  in  front 
of  same  to  obviate  the  possibility  of  any  disagreeable  radiating  effects 
on  the  pupils  sitting  close  to  the  radiators.  Each  classroom  has  been 
provided  with  automatic  temperature  control  arranged  to  operate  the 
supply  valves  on  the  direct  radiators,  thereby  directly  controlling  the 
amount  of  heat  necessary  to  supply  the  demands  of  the  rooms. 

The  air  supply  is  delivered  to  the  classrooms  through  a  large  screened 
opening  at  the  platform  end  of  the  room  and  at  an  elevation  of  about 
9  feet  above  the  floor,  and  foul  air  exhaust  is  provided  through  the  two 
coatroom  doors  and  thence  through  the  ceiling  of  the  coatroom  to  the 
attic.  This  arrangement  keeps  the  coatrooms  thoroughly  ventilated  with 
an  exceedingly  large  volume  of  air  at  all  times. 

Each  fresh-air  inlet  opening  has  been  provided  with  deflecting  plates 
to  break  up  the  direct-air  currents,  and  to  avoid  draughts  in  the  rooms. 

Low  pressure  cast  iron  sectional  boilers  have  been  installed  for  the 
supply  of  steam  to  the  direct  radiators  in  the  rooms,  and  also  for  the 
supply  of  steam  to  the  indirect  tempering  stacks  which  warm  the  air  for 
ventilation  whenever  the  temperature  outside  is  below  the  desired  tem 
perature  of  the  air  admitted  to  the  classrooms. 

The  steam  boilers  and  system  of  piping  have  been  arranged  on  the 
gravity  principle  so  that  no  mechanical  apparatus  is  necessary  for  the 
return  of  condensation  to  the  boilers,  and  this  is  effected  solely  by  gravity 
both  from  the  direct  radiators  and  from  the  tempering  coils. 

The  main  fresh-air  inlets  have  been  placed  in  or  near  the  roof,  as  far 
from  the  street  level  as  possible,  and  the  air  is  drawn  into  the  building 
through  a  large  air  shaft,  then  passed  through  the  tempering  coil  and 
finally  delivered  through  the  main  ventilating  fans  from  which  a  system 
of  galvanized  iron  ducts  leads  to  the  several  rooms. 

In  all  cases  where  it  has  been  impossible  to  locate  the  air  inlet  near  the 
roof  of  the  building,  air  washers  have  been  installed  for  the  thorough 
cleaning  of  the  air.  These  washers  are  of  the  spray  type  in  which  all  of 
the  air  is  drawn  through  a  fine  spray  of  water. 

The  fresh  air  supply  fans  are  of  the  housed  pattern,  some  of  the 
ordinary  paddle-wheel  type  and  others  of  the  later  multiblade  pattern; 
and  these  are  all  designed  to  run  at  moderate  speeds  to  avoid  excessive 
pressure  and  so  as  to  operate  without  noise.  All  of  the  fans  are  driven 
by  means  of  alternating  current  motors  and  ordinary  leather  belt  drives. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE.  51 

A  thermostat  in  the  main  fresh  air  chamber  controls  the  supply  of 
steam  to  the  tempering  coil  and  consequently  maintains  the  temperature 
of  the  air  admitted  to  the  classrooms  at  a  constant  point  of  about  65  to 
70  degrees. 

The  main  toilets  in  each  building  are  ventilated  by  a  special  exhaust 
fan  of  the  same  general  type  and  style  as  the  fresh  air  fans  above 
described.  These  toilet  exhaust  fans  are  designed  to  handle  sufficient 
air  to  produce  fifteen  to  twenty  changes  of  air  per  hour  in  the  toilet 
rooms  and  all  of  this  air  is  drawn  from  the  utility  chambers  behind  the 
toilet  fixtures,  each  fixture  communicating  with  this  chamber  by  a  special 
vent  opening  through  the  fixture  itself;  thus  producing  the  very  maxi 
mum  of  exhaust  ventilating  efficiency  by  drawing  all  of  the  air  immedi 
ately  from  the  most  objectionable  points. 

All  of  the  boilers  are  operated  with  fuel  oil  burned  by  the  latest  types 
of  burners  which  produce  the  maximum  of  economy  in  fuel  consumption. 

In  the  installation  of  oil  burning  apparatus  an  equivalent  evaporation 
of  twelve  pounds  of  water  per  pound  of  fuel  oil  has  been  demanded  and 
in  the  one  school  tested  at  the  present  writing  this  demand  has  been 
exceeded  by  a  little  over  10  per  cent. 

Burners  of  the  air  atomizing  and  mechanical  atomizing  types  will  be 
installed,  thus  supplying  the  latest  improvements  in  the  method  of  fuel 
consumption.  The  burners  and  their  machinery  operate  automatically, 
thus  requiring  the  minimum  of  attention  and  skill  on  the  part  of  the 
person  in  charge. 

In  conclusion,  do  not  select  a  site  until  you  know  the  size  of  the  build 
ing  you  are  to  build,  and  determine  the  size  of  the  building  by  the 
requirements,  then  have  a  sketch  made  of  the  building  which  will  meet 
the  wants,  and  from  that  point  the  size  of  ttye  site  can  be  determined 
upon.  If  this  method  is  followed  there  will  be  fewer  heart  burnings  and 
disappointments.  The  usual  method,  which  is  generally  wrong,  is  to 
guess  at  the  size  of  the  site,  misjudge  the  appropriation  for  the  building, 
and  in  the  end  receive  not  what  is  required  but  a  makeshift  instead. 


52 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


APPENDIX. 

The  following  pages  were  prepared  after  the  report  of  the  Jury  of 
Architects  was  completed,  so  that  body  must  not  be  considered  re 
sponsible  for  any  of  them. 

*     *     * 

It  is  of  interest  to  all  school  builders  to  know  that  the  law  of  1872, 
requiring  advertising  for  plans  and  specifications  and  letting  of  con 
tracts  to  architects  whose  plans  have  been  accepted  is  not  considered  as 
operative  at  the  present  time.  The  Attorney  General  in  an  opinion 
rendered  December  6,  1912,  holds  that  the  law  has  been  repealed  by 


The   first  open-air   school.     Charlottenburg,    Germany,   in    1904. 

later  legislation  on  the  same  subject.  School  boards,  therefore,  have  a 
right  under  the  present  law  to  employ  architects  for  school  buildings 
without  advertising  for  plans  when  they  choose  to  do  so. 


'Tis  true  that  we  can  not  spend  too  much  money  upon  our  children. 
Undeniably  money  spent  upon  the  better  training  of  its  young  people  is 
a  good  investment  for  any  municipality,  one  that  returns  to  the  com 
munity  many  times  and  in  many  ways. 

Yet  this  should  not  make  an  occasion  for  prodigality  or  for  unwise 
expenditures.  It  is  quite  possible  to  spend  great  sums  that  do  not  really 
benefit  the  children,  that  the  children  do  not  need.  It  is  easy  to  spend  the 
money  that  some  one  else  must  pay.  It  is  such  a  simple  matter  to  vote  a 
hundred  thousand  dollars  in  bonds  payable  twenty  or  thirty  years  hence 
that  thrifty  people  should  take  warning  and  should  look  somewhat  for 
ward  into  the  future.  These  bonds  must  be  paid.  Moreover,  they  must 
not  only  be  paid,  but  they  must  be  paid  twice  over,  since  in  less  than 
twenty  years  the  interest  exceeds  the  principal.  Worse  still,  in  less  than 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


53 


twenty  years  a  schoolhouse  grows  old,  inadequate,  out  of  style.     The 
architecture  of  to-day  is  the  amusement  of  to-morrow. 

Therefore,  think  twice  before  you  too  heavily  saddle  the  burden  of 
debt  upon  the  future  of  your  neighborhood.  Paying  for  a  dead  horse 
looks  ill  to  us.  Perhaps  it  may  seem  still  more  galling  to  our  grand 
children  when  they  are  called  on  to  pay  half  a  million  for  an  obsolete, 
impossible  schoolhouse ! 

*     *     * 

More  strongly  every  year  is  California  school  architecture  marked 
by  adaptations  of  the  outdoor  idea.  Probably  the  ultimate  plan  will  be 


An  English  open-air  school.     Introduced  in  the  suburbs  of  London  in  1907. 

practically  an  outdoor  schoolhouse,  because  this  state  is  peculiarly  fitted 
for  it.  If  it  is  better  for  the  health  and  growth  of  the  children  and  costs 
less  money  to  build,  why  in  the  name  of  Heaven  should  it  not  become 
the  dominant  feature  of  our  architecture  ?  Answer  that  if  you  can  ! 

Here  follow  some  pictures  showing  the  development  of  the  outdoor 
idea  in  recent  years. 


Schools  are  here  and  there  discarding  the  time  honored  school  desk 
because  it  restrains  freedom  of  movement  and  hampers  actual  work. 
It  does  not  fit  into  real  life,  because  neither  before  nor  afterward  do 
people  live  in  wooden  cages.  The  increasing  variety  of  school  activities 
is  likely  to  push  out  more  and  more  the  formal  school  furniture.  The 
following  letter  from  a  teacher  in  San  Diego  County,  with  its  two  little 
pictures,  illustrates  this  point: 

"I  want  to  tell  you  about  a  receptacle  for  the  pupils'  text-books 
that  our  board  has  placed  in  the  schoolroom. 


54  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 

We  are  using  a  table  and  chair  for  each  pupil,  instead  of  a  desk, 
and  like  them  very  much.  The  pupil  may  place  his  table  and  chair 
in  any  part  of  the  room  or  in  any  position  that  is  most  comfortable. 

But  the  question  has  been,  What  shall  we  do  with  the  books  when 
they  are  to  be  put  away?  The  library  is  crowded  and  each  pupil 
needs  a  space  of  his  own.  'Necessity  is  the  mother  of  invention,' 
so  we  thought  out  a  plan  and  had  a  box  made  along  the  side  of  the 
room.  This  box  is  16  inches  high,  16  inches  wide  and  33  feet  long. 

The  top  has  three  long  lids  made  of  6  and  lo-inch  boards;  the 
6-inch  one  fastened  to  the  partitions  and  the  lo-inch  board  fastened 
to  the  6-inch  one  by  strap  hinges. 

When  these  are  closed  down,  it  makes  a  very  comfortable  seat  to 
sit  on,  either  at  a  class  recitation  or  a  social  center  gathering. 


Receptacle     for     text-books     at 
School.      Open. 


La     Mesa 


Receptacle   for   books  at   La   Mesa   School. 
Closed,   it  is  useful  as  a  seat. 


The  box  has  no  back  or  bottom,  so  at  any  time  it  may  be  drawn 
out  and  the  floor  cleaned.  It  is  made  of  clear  surfaced  boards  at 
a  cost  of  about  45  cents  per  linear  foot. 

Inside  the  box  are  partitions  12  inches  apart  and  each  pupil  has 
one  apartment  thus  made  for  his  books.  The  teacher  also  has  quite 
a  large  space  for  supplies  that  are  needed  every  day.  That  part  of 
the  box  near  the  stove  has  a  space  for  coal  and  kindling. 

We  don't  know  how  we  ever  taught  school  without  it. — GRACE) 
M.  STEPHENSON,  La  Mesa  Heights  School." 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


55 


An  open-air  school  in  New  Orleans. 


Open-air  classroom  in  Massachusetts.     Heat  supplied  by  food  and  con 
fined  by  hoods  and  blankets. 


56 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


Front  view  of  the  beautiful  Hacienda  open-air  school  in  Santa  Clara  County. 


Interior  of  Hacienda   School,  showing  open-air  features. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


57 


C.  Bryant  Shaefer,  in  the  School  Board  Journal,  suggests  an  idea 
that  is  worth  thinking  about — placing  halls  outside  instead  of  inside 
the  schoolhouse.  His  remarks  and  his  pictures  follow : 

Why  build  schoolhouses  with  great  enclosed  hallways? 

Why  have  stairways  in  a  dangerous  pocket? 

Why  make  buildings  hard  to  get  into  and  worse  to  get  out  of? 

It  is  better  for  children  to  accommodate  themselves  to  moderate 
accessories  than  to  wean  them  from  open  air,  activity  and  self-help 
fulness,  with  old  people's  comforts.  It  is  more  economical  now  and 
in  the  years  to  come. 

In  this  suggested  design  for  a  schoolhouse  a  front  porch  on  each 
story  serves  for  the  usual  hallway,  which  is  so  costly  to  build  and 


An  interesting  suggestion.  Why 
not  build  the  hallways  outside  in 
stead  of  inside? 


expensive  to  heat.  The  open  stairways  are  independent  for  each 
floor.  They  do  not  need  ventilation,  or  heating ;  they  cannot  fill  with 
smoke  and  even  in  a  wood  structure  would  be  the  last  thing  to  burn. 

The  materials  of  construction  may  be  concrete,  brick  or  any 
accessible  fireproof  material.  That  is  for  the  local  architect  to 
decide. 

While  educators  are  recommending  open  windows  and  open-air 
studies  would  it  not  be  healthier  and  more  economical  to  dispense 
with  some  of  the  unnecessary  interior  arrangements  in  order  to 
accomplish  the  same  object? 


In  building  schoolhouses,  the  school  board  should  well  consider  what 
it  owes  to  the  community  in  the  way  of  protection  from  fire  and  panic. 
The  school  board  is  responsible  for  seeing  that  all  buildings  are  panic 
proof,  all  new  buildings  fireproof  and  all  old  buildings  fire  retarding. 


58 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


The  terrible  Collinwood  fire  in  1908  burned  173  children  and  two 
teachers  to  death — a  terrible,  a  heart-rending  tragedy.  How  would  you 
feel  if  you  were  the  trustees  in  like  case? 

Yet  the  Collinwood  disaster  was  not  the  result  of  unusual  carelessness 
or  unusual  construction.  It  was  a  brick  building  with  wooden  floors 
and  partitions.  The  doors  were  double  and  the  stairs  were  open.  The 
cellar  was  not  fireproof  and  the  heating  apparatus  was  defective.  It  was 
no  whit  worse  than  tens  of  thousands  of  other  American  schools  that 
dot  the  landscape  to-day.  Most  children  escape  being  burned  to  death 


w^J£   4=- 
LLLrl 


Side  view  of  open-air  school  at  College  Park,  in  Santa  Clara  County. 

because  most  fires  occur  when  schools  are  not  in  session.  Safety  results 
from  two  things — careful  thought  and  thoughtful  care.  Assembly  rooms 
should  be  on  the  ground  floor,  so  that  egress  shall  be  easy.  Basement 
fires  spread  through  open  stairways.  Halls  and  stairways  should  be 
unobstructed.  Properly  built  stairs  with  hand  rails  make  the  best  fire 
escapes  and  should  always  be  fireproof,  because  in  panics  people  try  to 
escape  by  the  exits  they  commonly  use.  The  use  of  noncombustible 
material  for  the  outside  walls  does  not  ensure  safety  from  fire.  Wooden 
walls  may  blaze  within  a  concrete  shell,  as  wooden  sticks  blaze  within 
an  iron  stove.  In  each  case  the  flames  are  fanned  by  a  draft.  Drafts 
are  dangerous.  Stair  wells  and  air  shafts  should  be  isolated  by  fireproof 
walls  and  doors.  Cut  the  attic  by  a  partition.  Avoid  drafts  everywhere 
as  a  pestilence. 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE.  59 

A  California  school  superintendent  should  make  himself  an  authority 
upon  school  building.  He  should  know  what  is  being  done  in  other 
places,  should  know  the  good  features  to  be  repeated,  the  bad  points  to 
be  avoided,  should  be  able  to  pass  judgment  promptly  and  intelligently 
upon  school  plans,  should  be  able  to  advise  and  help  school  officers  with 


See  this  happy  little  San  Diego  County  school  studying  under  the  pepper 
trees,  where  the  fierce  light  is  tempered  by  the  shade. 

their  improvements.  The  superintendent's  office  should  be  a  head 
quarters  for  ideas  and  for  discussions  about  school  building  and  school 
improvement.  Photographs,  plans,  drawings,  diagrams,  books,  should 
be  found  there,  illustrating  the  latest  and  best  ideas  concerning  the  archi 
tecture,  heating,  lighting,  ventilating,  planting  and  fire  protection  of  our 


60 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


schools:     The  superintendent  has  a  special  responsibility  here  that  he 
must  not  lose  sight  of  in  the  hurly  burly  of  other  duties. 

*     *     * 

To  improve  a  thing  we  must  reform  its  worst  points.  Unquestionably, 
the  worst  point  about  the  rural  school  is  its  water-closets.  As  a  rule, 
these  closets,  particularly  those  of  the  boys,  are  in  a*  filthy  and  shameless 
condition — and  for  a  very  good  reason — because  they  are  not  cleaned 
and  inspected  properly.  It  seems  to  be  a  self-perpetuating  nuisance — 
the  boys  of  to-day  continually  see  these  buildings  in  a  wet,  unwholesome 


Interior  of  College  Park  Open-air   School.     Observe  fine  effect  in  cheerful  demeanor  of  pupils, 
even    in    presence    of    county    superintendent    and    teachers. 

condition,  marked  by  every  obscene  device  and  thought  that  can  be  made 
by  knife  or  pencil  or  chalk.  They  become  familiar  with  these  things 
and  expect  them  to  be  so — and  they  are  so,  and  continue  so  when  the 
boys  grow  to  be  the  men.  • 

It  is  a  bad  thing  for  our  small  children  to  come  in  constant  contact 
with  uncleanness  and  immorality  on  their  school  grounds.  This  con 
dition  is  not  found  at  the  homes ;  why  should  we  tolerate  it  at  the  school  ? 
If  we  can  clean  up  the  school  closets  and  keep  them  clean,  it  will  be  a 
fine  piece  of  work,  one  that  we  shall  have  a  right  to  be  proud  of — no  less 
praiseworthy  than  floating  the  American  flag  from  the  schoolhouse  or 
planting  it  about  with  trees. 

The  way  to  accomplish  this  reform  is  this : 

First — Put  the  closets  into  thoroughly  good  condition — clean,  new, 
brightly  painted,  with  no  suggestion  of  their  old  rottenness  to  be  seen 


SCHOOL    ARCPIITECTURE. 


61 


at  all.  Hinged  seats  should  be  provided,  or  urinals  of  wood  or  iron. 
Sanded  walls  are  a  good  thing,  too.  Everything  should  be  made  of 
double  strength,  so  that  rough  and  heavy  use  can  not  damage  it. 

Second — Turn  the  clean  closets  over  to  the  teacher  and  janitor,  and 
insist  upon  their  having  the  same  attention  as  other  school  property — 
daily  sweeping  and  scrubbing  when  necessary  and  constant  watchful 
ness.  The  teacher  will  be  able  to  manage  the  children  if  she  is  held 
responsible  for  it ;  and  if  outside  trespassers  offend,  bring  them  to 
justice  if  possible,  but  let  the  school  repair  the  injury  at  once.  Furnish 
the  janitor  with  paint,  disinfectants,  tools,  when  he  needs  them.  Have 


Open-air  classroom  at  San   Bernardino.     Who  would  not  enjoy  this? 

a  distinct  understanding  with  the  janitor  as  to  the  things  to  be  done. 
Let  the  trustee  inspect  the  closets  whenever  he  goes  near,  and  make 
somebody  smoke  for  every  neglect — and  they  will  stay  clean ! 


Schools  are  changing  continually  to  admit  the  real  world,  to  let  in 
the  activities  and  the  life  of  the  men  and  women  who  are  doing  bread 
and  butter  things  in  the  world  of  to-day.  Manual  training,  for  instance, 
is  eagerly  welcomed  everywhere. 

Now,  there  are  different  ways  of  taking  in  the  manual  idea.  One  is 
the  perfectly  ladylike  way,  where  a  beautiful  and  expensive  room  is 
expensively  fitted  up  with  lovely  varnished  benches,  and  a  world  of 
bright  and  shining  tools  arranged  in  perfect  order  in  drawers  and  racks, 
possibly  tied  up  with  pink  ribbon.  The  children  march  in  stiffly  and 
spend  an  hour  a  week  in  making  cunning  little  matchsafes,  ribbon  boxes, 


62 


SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 


Here  is  the  famous   Fresno   Out-door   School   that  has  been  duplicated  so  many  times  in  the 

State. 


Red    Bluff    Manual    Training    Building,    as    originally   built    by   the   boys.     Size    24   by   40, 

cost    $600 


SCHOOL    ARCHITECTURE. 


63 


pin  trays,  beautifully  sandpapered  and  adorned  with  complex  designs 
in  colors. 

This  sort  of  a  thing  is  well  adapted  to  school  life,  but  it  is  not  real 
life,  and  the  children  soon  discover  that  it'  is  only  a  feeble  pedagogical 
imitation  of  the  real  thing. 

Fortunate  is  the  school  that  can  undertake  and  carry  out  a  piece  of 
work  that  the  world  can  see  and  recognize,  something  that  is  real  man's 
work  or  woman's  work,  some  big  and  striking  thing  that  commands 
attention  and  respect  in  the  work-a-day  world  outside.  The  big  boys 
and  big  girls  don't  leave  such  a  school,  but  stay  with  it  to  the  end,  and 


Red  Bluff  Manual  Training  Building  after  first  change,  size  24  by  60. 

develop  in  it  a  steadiness  and  power  of  will  and  judgment  that  .stay  with 
them  and  serve  them  through  life.  This  is  genuine  manual  training. 
The  idea  is  graphically  illustrated  in  the  four  accompanying  photo 
graphs. 

The  original  building  was  24  by  40  feet  in  size.  This  proved  too 
small  for  the  increasing  interest,  so  it  was  cut  in  two,  one  end  moved  out 
and  a  2O-foot  addition  built  between  the  two  parts.  This  again  became 
too  small,  so  it  was  split,  one  side  moved  out  28  feet  and  a  two-story 
building  interpolated. 

This  makes  an  excellent  building  52  by  60  feet,  containing  blacksmith 
shop,  wood-working  shop  and  finishing  room.  It  is  equipped  with 
home-made  benches  and  lockers.  All  of  the  work,  from  the  drafting  of 
plans  to  the  painting,  including  the  cement  work,  was  done  by  the  boys 
of  the  school,  without  any  outside  assistance.  The  total  cost  is  less  than 


64  SCHOOL   ARCHITECTURE. 

$2,000.     It  is  a  comfortable  size  for  the  fifty  boys  of  the  school  and  it  is 
their  own — they  made  it.     What  a  magnificent  experience  it  was,  to 

every  one  who  helped ! 

*     *     * 

This  publication  does  not  give  much  direct  help  to  the  builders  of 
small,   one-room   schools.     The   small   schoolhouse   naturally   does   not 


Red  Bluff  Manual  Training  Building.     Splitting  its  shell  for  the  third  transformation.     A 
genuine  piece  of  work  by  the  boys. 


Red  Bluff  Manual  Training  Building  in  its  final  form,   52  by  60,  cost  $2,000.     All  work 

done  by  the  boys. 

appeal  so  strongly  to  architects  as  do  the  more  ambitious  structures, 
therefore  it  never  gets  so  much  professional  attention.  Later  we  shall 
make  good  this  lack  by  issuing  another  bulletin  devoted  entirely  to  the 
rural,  one-room  school. 


